One Day
by roothlace
Summary: Edward Ferrars wishes that he could stay at Norland forever


_Sense and Sensibility_ doesn't belong to me.

Hope you enjoy it.

**Summer Days**

Edward hadn't expected to enjoy himself at Norland, yet here he was wishing he could spend the rest of his life there.

000

Edward found his sister Fanny and her husband John trying to say the very least but he was tired of London – mother and Robert were getting on his nerves with all the talk of barouche boxes and distinctions and Lucy was getting too clingy, so Plymouth was out of the question. So here he was at Norland, walking towards the house. It would have to do especially since he'd never been and would get a chance to meet some new people. Not that Edward found it particularly easy to get on with people he didn't know. Still anything…anyone was better than his mother, Robert and Lucy.

He saw a girl beating a carpet that was hanging from a tree and he walked up to her. She was very pretty; "Good morning," he said to her. She turned in surprise and said, flustered, "I was just…" "Beating carpets," he finished for her.

"Edward Ferrars, how do you do? My horse has thrown a shoe, so l came by way of the stables."

"Elinor Dashwood." She curtseyed.

So this was John's eldest sister or half-sister as Fanny liked to point out. She wasn't what he'd expected.

She looked at him in surprise. Without knowing why Edward did something he never did; instead of ending the conversation as he usually did with strangers and walking off to find Fanny, he heard himself asking. "Do you need help with the carpet beating?"

"No." She replied and walked him up to the house.

Maybe this visit wasn't going to be as trying as he'd thought it would be.

000

Almost a week later Edward went in search of Elinor he had discovered that she often spent time in library in the mornings, and he was not disappointed.

"I was thinking of walking to the edge of the woods," he told her after they had exchanged greetings, "would you mind walking with me?"

Elinor agreed and after telling her parent where she was going they left the house.

"So have you decided yet?" Elinor asked Edward.

"Decided?"

"Yes," Elinor replied. The two of them had had a talk about it a few days earlier. "Will you be going back to London or staying here with your sister?"

"I think I'll trespass longer on your mother's hospitality," Edward smiled, wondering what she would say if she told him that she was the reason he had decided to extend his stay at Norland.

"The walks here are very beautiful," Edward said. He had to stop staring at her.

"You should get Marianne to take you around," Elinor told him, "she would make you love Norland even against your better judgment."

_You'll do,_ Edward said silently and then aloud, "I doubt I can tear her away from the pianoforte, we both know what she thinks of me." They both laughed. Marianne had made him read a poem five times the night before. She had been unsatisfied with the feelings she portrayed.

"Do you play at all?" Edward asked her.

"No."

"You seem very content with your lack of skill," Edward said.

"You sound surprised."

"No," Edward replied, and then smiling widely he added, "yes, I am. I can honestly say that you're the first young lady of my acquaintance who didn't claim to be skilled in that area."

"I know my limitations," Elinor replied. "And if you had the misfortune to hear me play and sing you would wish you had heeded my warning."

000

"This is most fun I've heard in years," Edward said.

He had just fallen out of a tree; Margaret had invited him to her tree house. Edward had tried to refuse but he was aware that it was a great honour and not wanting to let his friend down had agreed to climb the tree inspite of his great fear of heights.

Elinor, Marianne and Margaret laughed. The sight of Edward grasping at thin air, and falling to the ground for the second time was very comical. Elinor put out her hand to help him to his feet but Edward pulled her to the ground next to him. They laughed and looked at each other and then Elinor sat up and got to her feet and Edward got to his feet a few minutes later.

As Edward prepared for bed that evening he wished his life would always be as carefree as it had been for the past few weeks that he could stay at Norland with Elinor and her family forever.

He wished the summer would last forever.

000


End file.
